An evaluation of an elementary science methods course with respect to preservice teacher’s pedagogical development in a mid-west state university in the United States

The main purpose of the science methods class as listed in the syllabus (Appendix A) was to prepare preservice elementary teachers with positive attitudes and the skills needed to successfully begin teaching elementary science through the development of science pedagogical content knowledge. The syllabus covered the fundamental principles of science knowledge such as the nature of science, constructivism, inquiry, science and technology. The inquiry continuum is introduced, emphasizing that there is no one particular way of using an inquiry approach as inquiry teaching greatly depends on the ability of the students and the topics being taught. However, a ‘cookbook’ approach was definitely not recommended. When illustrating ‘guided inquiry’ and ‘structured inquiry’, the author used activities from the topic of ‘sound’ as a model. First, the preservice teachers began the investigation of the production of sound and how the pitch of sound was varied by following a structured inquiry worksheet. Then a discussion among preservice elementary teachers followed about how this activity could be modified into a guided inquiry. This ‘sound’ activity was purposefully planned so that preservice elementary teachers not only learned the inquiry teaching strategies but also the science content knowledge of sound.

To illustrate one of the key aspects of the nature of science that ‘There is a distinction between science and technology' (Alshamrani, 2008; McComas, 2004) and to clarify preservice elementary teachers’ misconceptions between science and technology, a lesson was designed on how science principles were applied in technology. Preservice elementary teachers investigated how a car moved and factors affecting its movement by playing with toy cars and running them down a ramp. Questions discussed included ‘What moves a car?’, ‘After traveling a distance, what makes a car stop?’ and ‘What makes the car run down a ramp without a push?’ These questions help preservice elementary teachers think about the science content knowledge of Force and Motion. During discussions preservice elementary teachers brought up terms like gravitational pull, acceleration, friction. A further in-depth discussion followed in order to understand the meaning of those terms and how they were illustrated in the activity. After the exploration of car movement, preservice elementary teachers were required to build a car using the following provided materials: life saver candies, papers, paper clips, drinking straws and tapes. The assessment criteria were how far the car could run down the ramp and across the floor with all the parts of the car still intact. Challenges for the preservice elementary teachers were how they could make their hand built car not turn when running down the ramp and how to keep the car sturdy and intact. Some preservice elementary teachers came up with the solution of fixing the shaft in position with paper clips and tape, and allowing the wheels to rotate but not turn. Through this hands-on activity, it is hoped that preservice elementary teachers would apply their knowledge of force, friction, gravity and acceleration to the technology of designing and building a car.

Another assignment was a four-lesson unit plan. During the planning of the unit, preservice elementary teachers had to consider learner differences both for high ability and low ability students. The 5E learning cycle - engage, explore, explain, extend and evaluate (Bybee, 1997) was used as a framework for planning the lesson activities. Since a great deal of time in elementary classrooms is spent on reading and writing, interdisciplinary approaches of using story-telling as the first ‘engaged stage’ of the learning cycle are encouraged. Also, preservice elementary teachers had to teach one lesson to local children on the ‘University Day.’ This was an annual traditional event at the University during which local elementary students were invited to the university for a day visit. The preservice elementary teachers worked in groups and had to conduct a lesson to engage the elementary aged students in learning science. For some preservice elementary teachers, this might be the only science teaching experience they had in the four-year teacher preparation program.

Another feature of the course was a field trip to a local botanical garden. It was a great opportunity for preservice elementary teachers to think about what need to be done before, during and after a field trip. Laboratory safety was introduced at the same time when talking about the collection and observation of plant and animal specimens. This was a necessary component of the course because it was found that many preservice elementary teachers were unfamiliar with the handling of chemicals. For example, they thought that alcohol could be used in an elementary classroom without realizing that alcohol is flammable.